No one is safe...

Uptown, Downtown, Partytown....

2008-06-29T20:05:56Z

So, what's ole Jonnynails been up to?

Re-working old tunes. I've mainly been re-mastering them to make them sound (somehow) more professional. The PCP stuff didn't fare as well as the solo bits (not that I didn't try, but the full band pieces need a complete re-do).

They are available for listening and/or downloading @ THIS SPOT

Scorchtone and Blueyedevil have been kind enough to check 'em out. Please feel free to send me comments about what I have up.

Just so you know...

2008-05-04T16:49:35Z

... still alive. Here's an update for you.

update:

2008-03-30T18:42:05Z

Still alive... life remains interesting.

My shop is setting all-time revenue records for the third month in a row.

My 19 month old grand-nephew has been hospitalized with gastroenteritis for the past 3 days and isn't looking like he's getting out soon.

good, bad.. it all keeps coming on.

jonnynails @ 2007-12-17T18:35:00

2007-12-18T00:37:48Z

Good news! Korean-leafblower-with-windows Road Side Assistance will pickup my car and drop it off at the dealer. The plugged catalytic converter will be replaced under warranty. I'll have a driveable car soon.

OR...

I'll be totally SOL as they could tell me that it's something else.

jonnynails @ 2007-12-02T17:16:00

2007-12-02T23:19:49Z

I had a long post typed up... then our network fucked me over. Now it's only this little post. Damn it.

tip of the day

2007-11-14T20:14:29Z

Don't try grading diamonds when your eyes are puffy, nose is runny and you keep sneezing on the product.

GODDAMN COLD!

BAH!

2007-11-05T23:21:28Z

So, what do you do when your POS is a P.O.S.?

"Error (10053): Your software is shite and has caused the network connection to abort. Your software sucks ass!"

Gotta go.

The POS needs its next reboot.

as much as I can chew

2007-09-14T17:25:43Z

I've undertaken the most indepth creative venture of my adulthood to date. I'm writing a horror novel.

It's about a serial killer, told 1st person in Journal entry form.

I've spent the past week honing the outline, main character's psych profile/methodology and geography. I have a bit more to complete in the geography before I start the "actual" writing. The Goddess is aiding in fleshing out a lot of the pathology, and I'll send bits of it to my Uncle (retired English Prof.) as I progress.

Planned length: 9 chapters

Est. Time of Completion: 1-2 years... I'm not rushing.

On a side note, a Husker Du member is buying some old books from us in the near future.

long awaited post... maybe

2007-08-18T20:16:12Z

The Goddess and I attended the Slayer/Manson show on Tuesday at the Xcel. While I'm not a big fan of crowds, I managed to not hurt anyone seriously.

She was sexy as could be, and I had on my BIG boots (which make me 6'6") as well as a shirt that clearly showed off my "PUNISH" backpiece.

Say what you will, Manson puts on a hell of a show.

The crowd at the front of the main floor reached full-on annoyance level near the end of the Manson set and the Goddess decided to move back about 10 feet. This meant she couldn't see anything, so I lifted her onto my shoulders for the majority of the remainder of the set.

It was a great time, but I wondered why most of the songs were from previous albums. We went out and bought the disc yesterday and found out why. It's 80% filler tracks.... shame. At least the new Dimmu Borgir and Slayer discs weren't as such.

--------------

The Goddess may have found a new outlet for her beadwork, leatherwork and such (all traditional Native craftwork). We'll be checking back in with them.

-------------

I'm not one to make fun of the lives effected by natural disasters, but I got a little snicker deep within my gut last night while watching the news.

San Antonio, TX was a favorite spot for my ex-wife to vacation with people she had met on the internet *cough*CAUGHTHERCHEATING*cough* several years back. She went there twice, in fact, on very short notice.

So, last night I'm watching the news. Lo and behold! Hurricane ERIN has devastated San Antonio. I turned to the Goddess and said, "Nothing good ever comes out of Erin going to San Antonio."

blocked and tackled

2007-08-04T22:22:00Z

This year's Sun Dance was as beautiful as any could imagine. The weather was great. My sunburns stopped hurting so much by the 3rd day. And I'm still riding a spiritual high.

------
Quote of the week:
This is my idea of heaven. Have a ceremony. Have a feast. Have a giveaway. Have a ceremony. Have a feast. Have a giveaway. Have a ceremony. Have a feast. Have a giveaway. Have a ceremony. Have a feast. Have a giveaway.

------
Being around Lakotas, you get to here a lot of little jibes in the direction of Anishinabe. There were a lot of laughs.

Ojibwe: Hey, Harry! Want a Hot DOG??
Lakota: No thank you. I'd rather have a BUNNY BURGER.
(if you don't get it, don't worry. it's a dietary joke)

Lakota: We tell the Chippewa that our Wojapi is made from buffalo berries. What the old guys call them is bunny nose berries. If the Chippewa found out, there might be an end to the cease fire of the great Lakota-Ojibwe Conflict.

Lakota Elder: Clyde, you have to stop telling peolpe that the Ojibwe chased the Lakota out of Minnesota.
Clyde B: But that's the way it happened.
Lakota elder: And just how could a bunny chaser ever catch a buffalo chaser?

..And one for the Goddess:
Ho-Chunk (in reference to a "little person"): She should never worry about her height. She's no smaller than an average Kickapoo.

-----
Wa Anatan's daughter handmade 24 GORGEOUS star quilts in 7 months. One of which was graciously gifted to the Goddess and me.

-----
We arrived home at 1AM this morning. Now I have to close the store and go home.

WIWANYANK WACHIPI agenda...

2007-07-26T16:20:57Z

Today:
1. work till 7, give out money, take in more
2. go home and get wife
3. run to dad's for fresh cut flat cedar branches
4. back to the house to dig out camp stove, pack and eventually get a little sleep

Tomorrow:
1. Drive 9.5 hours to Cheyenne River Res.
2. Meet up with Sun Dance chief, Wa Annatan (Harry Charger). (click links)
3. Support wife as she "gets her center"

Saturday - Thursday:
1. Build tipis
2. Support dancers
3. get massive sunburn

Friday:
1. Drive home
2. sleep

Next Saturday:
1. Work full shift

We'll be gone for a week total

Music geek talk...

2007-07-14T16:40:48Z

This month's issue of Computer Music Magazine includes an free version of SynthMaker.. I spent most of yesterday creating VST's and VSTi's. My favorite I named "Death Patch".

If I get internet at home soon, I plan on making an online database of my VST's for download.

Yes...

2007-06-30T18:15:21Z

I know. It's been a while, but I'm posting to let everyone know I'm still alive.

I got a job promotion with a HEFTY salary increase, but I don't have much time for email, LJ, etc.

Coming soon: I'm slated for ANOTHER promotion and ANOTHER hefty pay raise followed by fewer opportunities to read or post here.

Surprised?

2007-04-23T21:09:16Z

No. Not really.

What American accent do you have?
Created by Xavier on Memegen.net

Northern. Whether you have the world famous Inland North accent of the Great Lakes area, or the radio-friendly sound of upstate NY and western New England, your accent is what used to set the standard for American English pronunciation (not much anymore now that the Inland North sounds like it does).

Take this quiz now - it's easy!

from blueyeddevil

2007-04-17T21:46:20Z

I can't get this song out of my head... I really love good Black Metal

Dimmu Borgir The Serpentine Offering from their new album.

Drive time...

2007-04-13T16:13:44Z

Going back to WI tomorrow w/ the Goddess for my nephew's first birthday. I'm actually quite excited. I don't get to see my little sister and her family more than a few times a year.

Fortunately, she sends lots of pictures.

Tonight we're off to buy birthday presents and groceries.

Straight from the Elephant's mouth

2007-04-12T14:24:44Z

Lee Iacocca, long-time Republican, friend of Ronald Reagan, supporter of GW in 2000, had this to say in this new book:

Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, “Stay the course.”

Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I’ll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!

You might think I’m getting senile, that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don’t need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we’re fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you?

I’ll go a step further. You can’t call yourself a patriot if you’re not outraged…. Why are we in this mess? How did we end up with this crowd in Washington? Well, we voted for them — or at least some of us did. But I’ll tell you what we didn’t do. We didn’t agree to suspend the Constitution. We didn’t agree to stop asking questions or demanding answers. Some of us are sick and tired of people who call free speech treason. Where I come from that’s a dictatorship, not a democracy.

because you're bored or you like Brits...

2007-04-11T21:19:54Z

...Thou Shalt Always Kill Click it, kiddies.

Procrastinate no more

2007-03-26T18:15:10Z

I made myself do it.

I got my remix trimmed and rendered as a .MP3. I uploaded it this morning.

Now, I get to sit and wait to see if they like it enough to put it up for voting.

Hellbent for thunder....

2007-03-22T22:12:09Z

I feel like I'm procrastinating too much. I finished my Celldweller remix, but I haven't converted it to the required .MP3 format for upload in the weeks since I double-checked my master.

All I have to do in import the raw .WAV into ACID, trim .05 seconds off the opening and render it as a .MP3.

That's it.

There seems to be such a hassle involving getting on my laptop to do 5 minutes of work. It's as if I need to dedicate more tasks to my computing time before I feel the need to sit through the XP loading screen.

If I could directly share the remix, as opposed to waiting for Celldweller's staff to upload my mix to their website for voting (which doesn't begin until JUNE), I'd definitely had this done already...

Fuck.

so..

2007-03-15T22:18:28Z

Wondering why I've been too busy.. here's a glimpse..

(edit: LJ won't accept the java)

This will work in the script's stead. CLICK!

video game file #3

2007-03-15T16:30:56Z

FUCK! SHIT! WHY THE?? WHO THE?? DAMMIT!

*translation: chapter 3 sucks ass

So there is a bit of plot movement. So there is a supporting character that only appears to "scare" you. But why add the "comic relief"? WHY? WHY? WHY?

The acting remains atrocious.

Two more supporting character get added to the plot. If the other characters in this movie/game were underdeveloped, two-dimensional stereotypes, the two new ones are approximately half the previous characters' quality.

Pros and cons of vintage...

2007-03-12T16:21:31Z

I burned a copy of all 7 CDs of Phantasmagoria, which I had come across in my daily search for Amazon/eBay sales items. As I said in my last post, I hadn't played this game in about 12 years.

Here's my rundown of the first couple chapters, which I played yesterday:

-Pros:
I was surprised to actually be able to play it in a Win XP machine.
The overall gameplay is as simplistic as I remember.
The effects, for its age, aren't bad. It's definitley a compliment to Sierra's 1995-96 game making ability.
I could remember the puzzles well enough to get through the game thus far without much time being wasted.

-Cons:
I forgot how bad the acting is.
The "Hint Keeper's" voice is so bland that it's annoying.
Never play this game with headphones... MIDI and low-res .WAV's... painful to audiophiles.
The walking scenes are almost two-thirds of the gameplay. Walk between rooms, down the hall, around the house... blah, blah, blah

-Verdict:
I'm going to play this all the way through. I remember watching the main character die horribly over and over, so this should calm my sadistic side for a few weeks.

Anyone remember this one?

2007-03-08T19:26:51Z

I played this game once.. 12 years ago.. Phantasmagoria...

Yippy, Skippy

2007-03-05T15:36:54Z

So, after failing horribly in the task of finishing my last remix by entry deadline, I jumped into the Celldweller Remix Contest: Round 2. This time I've actually finished one 3 months early. I have to convert it to MP3 and upload it.

If I get a link to post for it, it'll be here.